


apologies

by veenis



Series: Avatar: The Last Airbender Modern AU [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst, Break Up, F/M, Sad, ozai is mentioned in here bc hes a fucking terrible father lmao
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-15
Updated: 2017-11-15
Packaged: 2019-02-02 20:50:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12734067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/veenis/pseuds/veenis
Summary: Mai and Zuko break up. It doesn't end badly, but it doesn't end well either.





	apologies

**Author's Note:**

> my first fic on ao3, and it's an angsty one. it's a part of my avatar: the last airbender high school/modern au, so keep an eye out for more in the future !!!

“Mai.” 

Zuko’s face conveyed all of the thoughts and emotions and sensations that couldn’t be articulated into words. He knew that she knew. Beyond all of the sorrow, there was something sweet about the relationship that they still had. They were still, somehow, connected to each other in spite of how distant they had become. 

Mai couldn’t bear to look directly at Zuko anymore because of the aching in her chest that threatened to stop the beating of her heart. She couldn't bear to directly meet the gaze of the boy she once thought she loved. Instead, she stared just past him, at the wall behind him as if it were something more interesting than the person she spent so much time with, the person she used to open up to when everyone else turned their backs, the person who held her through the tears that she would always bottle up inside, only releasing when they inevitably spilled over.

“I’m sorry. I’m just... confused. About everything,” Zuko confessed. Unlike Mai, he was much more obvious with his efforts to avoid eye contact. He turned his head to look down at the blue-and-white-tiled floor of the school hallway beneath his feet. His hand gripped tightly at one of the straps of his backpack.

“I know. I’m confused too. About everything,” Mai replied, echoing Zuko’s words.

They both had become so lost in the never-ending maze called life. At one point, they had found each other. They became two souls acting as one, holding hands as they found their way through the twists and turns. At another, later point, someone had let go, or maybe they had released their grips on each other at the same time, and they became separated. They didn’t even realize how they had lost their way until it was too late to see where they went wrong.

“My dad, he—” Zuko scrambled to find his words, only to be interrupted.

“Zuko,” Mai began, his name coming out quick, forced out of her throat. “It’s okay. You don’t have to justify yourself. I get it. It’s fine.” She turned away from the boy in front of her. She crossed her arms over her chest. 

Zuko finally raised his head to look at her. “This— this isn’t just about me. It’s about you too. I still care about you, Mai. Please, don’t close up on me.” His voice was pleading in a way that made her want to give in. She knew that, for a fact, that she couldn't. Mai could sense Zuko’s hand hovering over her shoulder, hesitant to even touch her. She hated herself for feeling grateful that she could make him second-guess his own decisions. 

Mai took a deep breath. The air filled her lungs until she let it all out again. “I’m not.” An obvious lie. “I’m not up for talking about this right now, so let’s leave it at this, okay?”

There was a long pause. Zuko’s voice sounded like broken glass. “O-okay.” 

Then she just left. Mai’s footsteps echoed down the hallway. Her arms were still crossed over her chest, and she fought back her tears for as long as she could. She knew that she wouldn’t be able to last for very long. 

Being with Zuko had made her tender, much more sensitive in a way that had allowed her to let the walls that she had built up over the years finally come down. With those barriers broken, Mai found that her world was now filled with color. She didn’t see a blank, gray, unchanging slate anymore. 

This new perspective made her open her eyes to all sorts of possibilities. Though, along with the happiness came the pain. Being open to the beauty of the world also meant being open to its hideousness. The ugliness made her want to bawl more than the beauty made her want to smile. Mai used to do neither of those things.

Zuko had made her weak.

_I’m sorry too._

**Author's Note:**

> find me @veenis on tumblr !! <3


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